The official GTA 6 release date reveal is only a few months away.
Who needs an extensive marketing campaign that lasts two to three quarters of a fiscal year or longer when you're THE Grand Theft Auto 6? This is basically what Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a recent interview with Bloomberg. Over the weekend, Zelnick dropped the first official bit of GTA 6 news that anyone has ever received since he himself confirmed that the game is still on track to release later this year.
Hearing something coming from the man himself is as good as it gets, and it's pretty much spot on with what everyone else is saying lately— GTA 6 is king and it will hog all the spotlight the second that the release date is made official, so there's definitely merit to trying to move games out of its way to avoid potentially losing market share and tanking sales.
In Zelnick's own words: "We want to maintain the anticipation and excitement, and we do have competitors who will describe their release schedule for years in advance, and we found that the better thing to do is provide marketing materials relatively close to the release window in order to create that excitement on the one hand and balance that excitement with unmet anticipation."
This strategy of withholding information and limiting marketing materials until closer to the release date is a calculated risk. On one hand, it keeps fans hungry for any new details about the game, maintaining a high level of interest and speculation. On the other hand, it runs the risk of frustrating loyal fans. In this sense, GTA 6 is a special case, or rather, the entire Grand Theft Auto franchise operates on a different level.
"The anticipation for that title may be the greatest I've ever seen for any entertainment property, and I've been around the block a few times and I've been in every entertainment business there is," explained Zelnick in the same interview.
It's pretty normal for someone with such vested interest in a game to speak highly of it. After all, Zelnick previously said that GTA 6 will set a new creative benchmark for the video game industry. However, as we've already mentioned, GTA isn't the same as other video game franchises.
It's a game that could potentially boost overall console sales for years, help PlayStation 5 set a new fiscal year sales record, and force other companies like Electronic Arts and Xbox to adjust the release dates of their upcoming titles. You could argue that releasing new GTA 6 info closer to its release is less of a calculated risk and more of Take-Two and Rockstar Games bucking the established marketing trend, because, why not?
Unfortunately, this still doesn't clarify when the next GTA 6 trailer will be revealed. But the good news is that this could happen anytime soon. Take-Two's increased marketing budget for the next fiscal year is all but guaranteed to be because of GTA 6 and even if we don't hear from them in April, the company's next earnings call will surely be filled with information related to the upcoming sixthquel. So whether it's good news or bad news, we're getting more GTA 6 info sooner rather than later.
